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Abhay Ashtekar is about to receive the prestigious award more than four decades after her scientific involvement in the field of gravitational sciences. Einstein Award conferred by the American Physical Society (APS).
The 2018 prize, worth $ 10,000, is expected to be announced on October 23.
The quotation from the price reads as follows: "For many and decisive contributions to general relativity, including black hole theory, canonical quantum gravity and quantum cosmology."
Abhay Ashtekar talks about the classical theory of quantum time. Courtesy of Image: University of Pittsburg
Ashtekar is professor of physics, Professor Evan Pugh, incumbent, chairman of Eberly and director of the gravitational and cosmos institute of Pennsylvania State University.
"The award is special because it is the highest distinction awarded by APS in the vast field of gravitational sciences.The first Einstein Prize was awarded jointly to Peter Bergmann and John Wheelerwho introduced general relativity to American universities by creating research groups. Perhaps because the first prize often sets the tone, the following prizes recognize the "achievements of a lifetime". The news was extremely satisfying, "said Ashtekar. IANS in an email interview.
Newton's laws transcend art and literature
Ashtekar's passion for the physical sciences began while he was in high school in India. "At first I only knew Marathi literature – it's my mother tongue and was up to the age of 11. I was then exposed to the Hindi and English literature and I realized how much literature is related to specific cultures.At the same time, I learned Newton's laws and the universality of gravity – which makes the apple fall on the earth also makes the planets revolve around the sun, which is amazing in itself, "he said.
What he found most remarkable is that, unlike art and literature that are "so closely related to human conditions," Newton's laws transcend both. "It was striking to me that Newton's same laws were taught and admired in India as in China, Japan and the West."
"Later, in college, fundamental physics seemed to me to be the deepest and purest way of seeking to understand nature." At the university, I chose to work in the general relativity, cosmology and quantum physics this is where the most fundamental questions about the space, time and nature of the physical universe are discussed, "he said.
Gravity is unique among the forces of nature
Somewhere along the line, he also acknowledged that although one of the four main forces of nature, gravity is the weakest, yet it is so crucial to the way the universe it's formed and exists.
"Gravity has two main characteristics that other forces do not share: unlike weak and strong forces, it is long-range and therefore essential for large-scale structures and phenomena.Electromagnetic force is also long-range. electric with both signs, the force can be both attractive and repulsive.
"The big bodies like the sun and the planets are all electrically neutral and they do not exert any electromagnetic force, so the dominant force between these bodies is gravitational," he said.
After obtaining his Ph.D. in 1974 from the University of Chicago, Ashtekar then held influential positions in France, Canada and India.
His biography is also in the National Academy of Sciences, to which he was elected member in 2016.
The true golden age of gravity
After such a long career in various disciplines of physics, he said that science is currently in "the golden age of gravity". "Until the mid-1960s, general relativity remained isolated from traditional science – a virgin and beautiful theory to admire from afar.
"The paradigm has changed completely and relativistic gravity has become the center of physics and astronomy, and thanks to the big bang, black holes and gravitational waves, we have realized that the universe It is not a quiet and peaceful place in which astronomers believed it was a good part of the 20th century, "he said.
"There are very energetic high-energy explosions that have shaped the history of our universe, so relativistic gravity has completely upset our understanding of the cosmos," he said.
At a conference at "Quantum Time" with various experts in gravity science presenting their findings and ideas, a general discussion concluded the events. "There were a lot of questions in the general discussion, they all went to Abhay," the university blog registration the lecture reads. Courtesy of Image: University of Pittsburg
"The deepest riddles of fundamental physics today are at the interface of general relativity and quantum physics, what has really happened to the big bang? end point of the quantum evaporation of black holes? How to incorporate gravity into the unified theories of It is therefore clear that gravity will continue to dominate physics and astronomy research in the coming decades ", he declares.
Ashtekar said, "In India, extremely talented physicists are making a major contribution to pure physics in areas I know well.LIGO-IndiaThis project now places India at the forefront of international efforts. The Interuniversity Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics in Pune, in particular, will play an important role in the major discoveries that will be made in the international network of gravitational wave observatories in 5 to 10 years. years. In this area, India is ahead of China, for example. "
"On the other hand, my colleagues from other fields of physics tell me that this is not the case in their field, that there is a lot of good research but not enough" big "researches which are published in the most visible journals, "he said.
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